ATG

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

On the flip side, I enjoyed it, but was glad I only paid $79pp. Any more than that and it's way overpriced.

That’s exactly what we thought.  Also paid $79 and won’t do it again unless it’s really cheap.  Lunch was fine, but not fantastic.  My favorite thing was the flag on the loungers that signaled that you wanted bar service.  Saved the staff from roaming around calling “bar service “.  

The embassy suites is really showing it’s age.  Last November we stayed there and there was a styrofoam cooler sitting in front of the elevator.  I assumed someone had left it.  But, it was catching a drip from the light fixture in the ceiling.  Everything looked shabby and worn.  But the price hadn’t gone down.  We decided to find something else in the future.

16 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Just like with a gas furnace and hot water tank. When the power goes off you still loose your heat and hot water. The gas fireplace will still throws off some heat but not like when there is power for its blower to work.

Our previous house near Atlanta had natural gas for heating and hot water.  One bad ice storm we lost power for 3 days.  The only warm room was the bathroom where we kept the bathtub filled with hot water.  That and the gas fireplace meant we didn’t have to go to a hotel.  We cooked on the outdoor grill.

4 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Plus, many northern states' weather is not conducive to playing outside between September and April, and many southern states' weather is not comfortable for being outside between April and September. 

I realize it’s been a long time since I was a child in Indiana, but we played outside almost every day.  Yeah, it was cold but we were still out.  

25 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I was going to do it when my previous tank heater failed but I had not done any research at the time and needed a replacement fast so put in another tank. But if (when) this one goes I will most likely make the conversion.

Where we live in the country, we don’t have access to natural gas.  Does anyone have experience with the electric tankless ones?  Our house (and the water heater) is 13 years old.  Luckily in the basement with a drain.  I also got an alarm that blares if it detects water.

While I understand that things were very difficult for children the last few years, I think that the impact on us seniors was also significant.  For all the years I worked, I dreamed of retirement and traveling.  I was 66 when this mess started.  I hoped to have 20 years of traveling.  I lost 2 of those years- or 10% of my travel time.  I’m not saying children were not impacted, but they weren’t the only ones.

Was I the only person who looked at this to find out what a TNF was?

When my sons were young, I was den mother for the Cub Scouts.  We did lots of science activities since I don’t do camping.  One of my favorites was to make a hovercraft.  You take an old record album and glue a thread spool so that the holes line up.  Then blow up a balloon and fit it over the spool.  As the air escapes the balloon it floats the record.  On a smooth surface like our garage floor it goes very well.  The boys loved it.

39 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

I was surprised how easy it is!  Important to make sure to save pasta water and add as necessary.  You can grate the cheese and mix it with the egg and pepper ahead of time.  It’s quick and delicious.

We love carbonara.  I sauté some mushrooms for my husband to add to it. I usually use bacon but love it with pancetta.  It’s easy, quick and delicious. Of course, there is the cholesterol issue……

I just switched our reservations for 4 of us on a 9 night Canada cruise.  I got 36 emails, one per person for each night.  They also disappeared from my calendar. 

Can you do an inside and a balcony for a reasonable price?  The kids can use the inside as a bedroom and you can meet up in your cabin.  My kids were always out and about and only used the cabin for sleeping and showering.

11 hours ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

Well, I got my 50lb Weight Loss charm from "Weight Watchers" today!  Oh and there's no backing out now....my family got all of our vaccines verified on our RC app!

That’s a remarkable achievement!  Think of it as losing the equivalent of 10 five pound bags of sugar or a very heavy suitcase!  Congratulations!

33 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I'm trying to figure out the name of the town, since it was blanked out.  

Can you post it with a space between every letter so it goes through the filter?

How’s this.

a color made by mixing blue and yellow plus wood.  Highway 221 runs through it.

I don’t know why it wouldn’t let me say the town’s name.  ***** isn’t a bad word.

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Key Biscayne is crazy expensive. And thats with Florida's low 19 cents fuel tax

Wow!  I got gas this morning and it was $4.14.  I passed a BP that was $3.91 cash / $3.99 credit.  That’s in *****, SC.  Our small town local station was $4.29.

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

Try going to a Little League game!

Over 30 years ago my oldest son played t-ball for one season.  The kids were 5 years old.  One parent threw a fit and cussed at one of our team’s players.  He had tagged a runner.  Problem was the coach hadn’t explained he needed to have the ball to do it.  The next season we started soccer.  Most of the parents knew nothing about it and were happy if their kid kicked the ball a few times.  

We had 2 people in a 2 bedroom grand suite.  I tried to add a third person and they repriced it.  The additional cost was over $4,000.  I booked a inside right across and the rate for 1 person was less than $1,000.  Didn’t make any sense at all.

56 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

They need a shot clock. 🙂 You can watch a game for over an hour and not even have a shot on goal................and when somebody does shoot...........the crowd goes bonkers..........and that is even when the ball doesn't go in the net for a score.

 

I had it on, I couldn't even get through the pre-game show. 🙃

There are millions of us who enjoy soccer.  I’m a Liverpool fan and can’t wait for the game to finally start.  Seems the French security has really been inept.

I have a question about the packages.  For my 9 day Canada and New England cruise the current sale has the following-

surf & stream

1 person             $179.91

2 people              $359.82

1 person & 2 devices.      $278.91

Is there a reason not to buy the third option for my son & me?  I assume we will have only one username and password, but can use 2 devices at the same time.  Why would I pay an extra $80 for a separate username and password?

23 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Not silly at all. It depends on the length of cruise and itinerary.

 

For 3 or 4-night cruises, it's night 2.

 

For 7-night cruises, it's usually either 2 or 3 (whichever is a sea day) and then night 6.

 

I'm not familiar with other lengths so others will have to chime in.

 

Another way to check is by looking at MDR menus in the app. Formal nights will have beef tenderloin on the 1st and lobster on the 2nd.

 

*NOTE: This is based on my knowledge of US sailings almost always to the Caribbean so if my answers don't apply, someone will have to chime in to correct me.

I was very surprised on our 8 night Mariner cruise that lobster night was not the second formal night.  Looking around the MDR I estimated 10% really dressed up, 70% in business casual type clothes and 20% in very casual outfits.  I had expected more people in formal dress.  The average age was fairly high and almost no children.

I’ve found Alaska cruises are more casual.  I think it’s because most of the luggage space is taken up with heavier clothes.  Jeans take up more room than shorts, no room for fancy clothes.

We paid $80 each in February.  We had lots of OBC and decided to try it out.  Afterwards we decided it was worth no more than $50 each.  Lunch was very good and bar service in loungers was nice.  But definitely not worth the small fortune they are usually priced at.

Elevators were crowded last week with 2900 passengers.  And in the midst of it, there was the piano guy tying up one of them.  We walked when possible, but took them when we had to.  I could walk down from 8 to 3 for dinner, but not back up.

6 minutes ago, bajathree said:

I have been following due to having an 8 night sailing scheduled on Mariner for June. Sailing has been showing pretty much sold out for a while now. I know June is BIG family time so expected this would be a busy sailing. However after reading about understaffing issues, bad food, and now lots covid cases...not so sure I want to be on an 8 night near full capacity sailing with 4 sea days. 

We had very few service issues.  We had signed up for MTD at 6:00 and switched to early sitting at 5:30.  Most nights we were out in about an hour.  In the solarium the bar people were around quite often.  Playmakers was a little slow, but food was great.  Lunch at Johnny Rockets was quick.  Our room steward was great.  My one trip to guest services was easy.

We were also on the Mariner cruise last week.  After reading this, I did one of the at home tests and I’m negative.  We were out and about each day and ate in the MDR. or windjammer most days.  We didn’t wear masks.  I have great sympathy for those who tested positive, but wanted everyone to know that some of us made it okay.